[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 10230]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

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                       TRIBUTE TO THOMAS PARROTT

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I, as chairman of the Committee on Finance 
along with Ranking Member Wyden, recognize Thomas Parrott, a 
distinguished executive at the Social Security Administration--or, SSA. 
Tom is currently the Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Legislation and 
Congressional Affairs at SSA. He is a dedicated public servant who has 
served his country for more than 40 years.
  Tom began his career at SSA in January 1975 as a claims 
representative in the Midtown Manhattan district office, before being 
assigned to district offices in Rochester, NY, and later in Redding, 
CA. He returned to his hometown of Baltimore in 1980 as a policy 
analyst in the predecessor office of what is currently called the 
Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs. Since that time, he 
has been in the same component office at SSA serving as the Associate 
Commissioner for Legislative Development and Operations, as Acting 
Deputy Commissioner, and in his current position as the Assistant 
Deputy Commissioner.
  Tom is a 1972 graduate of Denison University in Ohio, and he 
completed the Federal Executive Institute's Leadership for a Democratic 
Society program in 2005. He was appointed in 2008, by then-SSA 
Commissioner Michael Astrue, to the Senior Executive Service.
  As testimony to Tom's devotion to public service, prior to joining 
SSA, he was a VISTA volunteer and a field health inspector in western 
New York working with migrant farm workers in the potato and apple 
growing regions of the State.
  Sequences of staffers in the Finance Committee have had the pleasure 
of working with Tom on many issues relating to Social Security during 
his tenure at SSA. He has always been resourceful, insightful, and 
forthcoming.
  Tom will retire from the Social Security Administration on July 3, 
2015. He will be sorely missed by his colleagues and his many friends 
on the Hill. He will leave behind the numerous individuals he has 
mentored and encouraged over the years and who will now carry on this 
work.
  Both Ranking Member Wyden and I feel that it is important that we in 
Congress recognize those who devote their working lives to improving 
the lives of others. Career civil servants often do their work in quiet 
anonymity behind the scenes providing vital service to the American 
people. They are rarely recognized for their many contributions. Tom 
Parrott is one of those people. His record of leadership at the Social 
Security Administration and his commitment to providing the American 
people with effective and compassionate service is a record of which he 
can be justly proud.
  Ranking Member Wyden and I wish Tom all the best in his retirement 
from Federal service and thank him for his many years of dedicated 
service. Tom will continue in many ways to serve people in his 
community, and we are all grateful for his efforts. We wish him all the 
very best in his future endeavors.

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